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Wednesday, February 21, 2018

I am an ordained minister in a Mainline Protestant denomination -- read non-evangelical denomination. I am also graduate twice over of one of the flag-ship evangelical seminaries -- Fuller Theological Seminary. Mainliners have been having an identity crisis for some time, as revealed in our crashing membership numbers. Now, it appears evangelicals are having an identity crisis. What is a Mainliner with Evangelical roots to do? While we constantly hear that 81% of White Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump, apparently a lot of "evangelical elites" have chosen not to join with this number. Martin Marty may have recently turned 90, but he's still adept at noticing trends and conversations. Here he notices a new book of essays edited by the President of my alma mater -- Mark Labberton -- that addresses this identity crisis. I've not read the book, but I've been feeling the angst. And, as usual Marty is worth reading!

The champion among contenders for a “crisis” of experience and identity these years is American evangelicalism, which was born from the crises of the eighteenth century, and has been part of the Protestant package ever since. Polls, the press, and folkways have uncovered some current versions of this, onto which any sentient and informed citizen can throw light through empirical research. Start with an authoritative update by Mark Labberton, who is well poised to witness these issues from his post as president of the landmark Fuller Theological Seminary. Labberton edited the new book Still Evangelical?: Insiders Reconsider Political, Social, and Theological Meaning(InterVarsity Press, 2018). In his introduction, he writes: “In its current mode, Evangelicalism contains an amalgam of theological values, partisan political debates, regional power blocks, populist visions, racial biases, and cultural anxieties, all mixed in an ethos of fear. No wonder it can be difficult to know if one is still an evangelical.” Agreed.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

17 When
Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him,
“I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 And I will make my
covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3 Then
Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant
with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer
shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you
the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful;
and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 I will
establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you
throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and
to your offspring after you.

15 God said
to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah
shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by
her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples
shall come from her.”

****************

We serve a covenant-making God. On
the first Sunday of Lent, we heard the story of how God made a covenant with
Noah, his family, and all the creatures of the earth. With the sign of the
rainbow, God promised never again to destroy the creation with a flood. That
covenant is often understood to have universal application. There are no
stipulations. God regretted the flood and announces that such an action will
never again occur. Now, several generations later, God chooses to make another,
narrower, covenant with the couple from Haran—Abram and Sarai.

Monday, February 19, 2018

We live in strange times. We hear conversations in certain circles about white privilege, while in other circles we hear complaints that white men face discrimination. Which is it? Standing at the center of the last Presidential election was the claim that the white working class was being ignored. The same arguments undergird the current immigration debates. When the Black Lives Matter movement emerged after the shooting of Michael Brown by a white police officer, many White Americans responded with a declaration that “All Lives Matter.” While this response sounded egalitarian, it failed to acknowledge that in our country the powers and principalities have valued white lives more than black and brown lives. We may have elected a Black President in 2008 and again 2012, but it’s clear from the rhetoric of the hour that we are not living in a “post-racial society.” In fact, even today we are living with the legacy of decisions made decades ago that privileged European-Americans over Americans from other regions of the world. Unfortunately, these patterns of discrimination, segregation, and racism have infected the church as well as the rest of the culture.

So, what should Christians do about the realities of our society? That is the question taken up in The Myth of Equality by Ken Wytsma, a White Evangelical minister and educator living in Bend, Oregon. Wytsma wrote this book because he sees unacknowledged white privilege infecting the white evangelical community. He is the founder of The Justice Conference and President of Kilns College and wrote this book at the request of an editor at InterVarsity Press who heard him address privilege in a speech. I am glad that the IVP editor made the request, because this is an honest and compelling look at a problem that will not go away. Indeed, my own denomination has pledged to be an “anti-racism, pro-reconciling” church. All clergy are required to receive anti-racism training. I’m glad the training is required, but it does suggest that even in a more liberal Mainline denomination with a General Minister and President who is African-American that problem still exists.

Sunday, February 18, 2018

We began our Lenten journey on Wednesday by having our faces marked with ash as a sign of repentance and re-commitment to being Jesus’ disciples. This morning we hear a word from 1 Peter that invites us to share in Jesus’ life and ministry. The letter mentions baptism, making a defense of our faith, the suffering of the cross, and the resurrection. Each of these elements mark the life of Jesus’ followers.

There is a lot going in this brief passage. It’s rich with theological content, which we can’t unpack in one sermon. So, I’m going to focus on the better story, which we have been given, and which Peter calls on us to share with the world.

Before we move into Peter’s message, I would like to share the word from the Gospel of Mark that ushers in the season of Lent. As you’ll hear, Mark doesn’t waste time on details:

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:9-15 NRSV)

Friday, February 16, 2018

I have not posted on the shooting in Parkland, Florida that left seventeen students, teachers, and staff dead until now, because I really had no words to offer. I grieve with those who grieve. I grieve with mothers and fathers, with sisters and brothers, with wives and husbands, with friends and with acquaintances, but I have no prayers or thoughts to offer. I decided to break my silence this morning. I wanted to share a Psalm of Lament. Nothing I read really expressed my feelings. Psalm 23 offers comfort and Psalm 22 expresses abandonment. I don't know of Psalm 12 speaks to the moment either, but it does seem to catch the feeling that "the faithful have disappeared from humankind." I know there are no easy solutions. I know taht there will be trade offs if changes are made to our laws that might restrict some "rights." But are not the lives of our children worth it? So, I offer this Psalm as a sign of my frustration, my anger, my grief.

I believe that God is love. While I struggle with this premise, I believe that God's love is non-coercive and uncontrolling, which means that if God is going to do something, God will do it in partnership with God's people. We pray that God will do something, and God reaches out and says -- Join me. Are we willing to do so, or will we continue to let the vileness of violence define our humanity? So, I offer this lament, in memory of those who died and in solidarity with those who survived this latest attack on those whom God loves.

1 Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;the faithful have disappeared from humankind.2 They utter lies to each other;with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,the tongue that makes great boasts,4 those who say, “With our tongues we will prevail;our lips are our own—who is our master?”

5 “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,I will now rise up,” says the Lord;“I will place them in the safety for which they long.”6 The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,silver refined in a furnace on the ground,purified seven times.

7 You, O Lord, will protect us;you will guard us from this generation forever.8 On every side the wicked prowl,as vileness is exalted among humankind. [Psalm 12 NRSV]

About Me

I am a Disciples of Christ pastor, theologian, community activist, historian, teacher. I'm a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary with a M.Div. and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology. I'm the author of a number of books including Marriage in Interesting Times (Energion, 2016) and Freedom in Covenant (Wipf and Stock, 2015).